Learning to snowboard offers insights about life. Consider the following:

Always keep your head up and eyes facing towards where you want to go.

Be aware of your surroundings, so that you can be informed and work with them naturally. Working against them or working while unaware of them will inevitably end in disaster.

Leaning back will always make you fall. Always!

Leaning forward is the only action that will get you anywhere. The feeling is counter-intuitive and occasionally uncomfortable, but you must overcome it. The alternative is to stay indefinitely, sitting in one spot, freezing to death.

Business development brought me back to downtown San Jose today, and I had the opportunity to walk past my Panda Mural project on First Street and San Fernando. I still feel so grateful for the opportunity of that job, and I still can’t believe it’s complete!

The panda mural was my first opportunity to draw red pandas in a major capacity. These cuddly-looking creatures look a bit more like raccoons, but they adore bamboo just as much as their black-and-white counterparts.

I realized that I missed drawing them…hence, today’s painting is a nod to the joy of drawing red pandas!

Today, I worked with a trusted teammate to plant the seed of a new panda idea. With his help, we talked it out, fleshed out the details, and cast a vision for the future. Time will tell if will bear great fruit! (No pun intended )

Alone and without any accompanying actions, ideas are just thought fragments that fill the atmosphere. But by nurturing them with teamwork, positive intentions, and forward actions, they’ll eventually become great ideas!

In the ongoing quest of researching my characters Samurai Panda and Ninja Panda, I accompanied a friend to his kendo class.

I marveled at the kendo customs, rituals, and control. I could feel the energy expeditures and exchanges during the practice session. I spent most of the first hour just absorbing all the techniques and their underlying philosophies, and countless thoughts and ideas filled my head.

These kendo observations all helped me to further reinforce Samurai Panda’s character. He’s a guy who’s always calm, cool, logical and collected. He fights in the open, with a direct stance and precise calculated movements.

Ninja Panda, on the other hand, is hot-headed, risky, whimsical, and emotional. You’ll never know where he’s coming from or where he’s going. His style is completely in the flow of the environment and generally un-structured.

Ice Hockey Saturdays with my son Griffith are the highlight of my week.

I love heading to the ice rink, getting a cup of Tim Horton’s coffee (and the occasional donut), and standing back to watch what Griffith kinds of moves will learn on the ice.

He’s at the halfway mark with his first session of lessons, and received a passing evaluation in all Hockey Tot skills. He definitely has room for improvement, but as a mom I’ll give him extra credit for trying to make snow angels, giving icy kisses, and scraping ice off from the rink and deliberately going out of his way to give me a big icy hug.